Greater New Orleans

Our times: New Orleans Saints are named in 1966

The opportunity to name the city’s NFL team had the New Orleans area abuzz throughout much of 1966. The awarding of the franchise was announced Nov. 1 — All Saints Day — but residents were deeply divided over a proposal to call the team the Saints.

Readers of The Times-Picayune engaged in a spirited debate over the monicker. Sports Editor Bob Roesler, who came out against the leading candidate and also disliked calling the new stadium the Superdome, wrote that at one point nearly half the mail he received was from people opposed to calling the team the Saints.

Readers’ alternatives ranged from the political to the esoteric to the unusual, but on Jan. 9, 1967, eight months before the first game, the team officially became the Saints, named for the gospel-turned-jazz standard “When the Saints Go Marching In.”